Archive for July, 2009

26
Jul

Plotting with a Partner

   Posted by: Larissa Lyons    in How I Write

Collaboration Series, part 2 of several

Last time, I touched on how Alyssa and I begin working out a new story idea. This post will detail how we plan the actual events. (Keep in mind, I’ve learned that while this process works fabulously for she and I together, it has proved an absolute disaster when I attempted to use it by myself. More on that when I discuss my own solo writing later this year.)

First, an addendum to the CHARACTERS post – when we agree upon their names and descriptions, we both start to get a “feel” for their personalities. Is someone a brainiac? Are they bossy? Possibly a true leader? Do they have hidden desires? If so, are these desires hidden from themselves, or simply something they won’t reveal to others? Do they have a goal that motivates all of their actions? (They’d better!)

This type of characterization and developing personality traits is something there are many, many books written upon, and I own quite a few. To date, I have yet to gain significant insight on characters from a reference book. It just seems to me, and Alyssa from what I gather, that when you have a “real” full-bodied person in mind, their character traits come to you naturally. This isn’t to say those might not change, depending upon your story — or more specifically how the character grows…just that from my point of view, books on characterization haven’t proved as helpful as some of my other reference material.

Now, details on how we PLOT our stories together:

Since we’re about 2000 miles too far apart to schedule any face time, we’ve learned to plot out the entire story during one marathon phone call. This means planning for quality, uninterrupted time–Alyssa feeds her daughter mega helpings of turkey, a gallon of warm milk, and tucks her in, complete with padlock & bedpan; I hand Mr. Lyons a fifth of Jack and tell him to keep quiet. :-)

We’ve learned the hard way not to do part of the story one day and plan to finish it another. We both had vastly different ideas during the interim of what the characters would do and how to resolve things, and ended up with a morass of jumbled ideas. We’ve found it’s much more efficient to get all our major scene ideas out in one session.

I use a headset so my hands are free. Alyssa uses a speakerphone so hers are. She types up a summary or brief idea for each scene as we go along, starting with our beginning idea, the major plot and turning points, then the conflict resolution. This typically takes a couple of hours, depending upon the length of story.

Since I’m not typing, you might wonder why my hands need to be free…often the ideas start flowing fast and furiously. I make notes when her fingers can’t keep up or when I have ideas and she’s currently typing something else. Now the first joint story we wrote together (it wasn’t the first one we talked about…simply the first one we successfully learned how to work together on!) was Orchids and Orgasms, and on that one, we did some of the actual dialogue and exact narration using the method I’ve described here, as we were both getting our feet wet and learning the characters. Since we now develop our characters before the scene plotting, we already have an idea of how they’ll respond and talk in certain situations so we no longer write actual first draft scenes in live time together. Eventually, when we think we have all the main points covered, we both hang up happy and sore from laughing.

In the next day or so, Alyssa smooths her typing (ensuring everything is recognizable!); she also includes which viewpoint each scene is to be told from and what the setting is for each (all of this was touched on in the phone call, but not necessarily jotted down the first time). When she’s finished, she sends the document to me for a glance over.

Once I okay it, she’s ready to go.

Next up — writing the “Rough” Draft.

Currently Reading: Don’t Bargain With the Devil by Sabrina Jeffries and The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming

Tags: ,

2 Comments
22
Jul

Collaborative Writing – Part 1

   Posted by: Larissa Lyons    in How I Write

How Alyssa & I Write Together, Part 1 of Several

This post, and the few that follow, will detail the wonderful collaboration process Alyssa Brooks and I have developed on our co-authored stories, which is significantly different from how I write my solo books. (I’ll provide information on my own chaotic creative “structure” once I completely finish writing my part of Jonah’s story!)

First, a quick tidbit on how we met. It was June of 2005 and each of us were over at the eHarlequin website, trolling for a critique partner on the forum boards. I answered her post; she e-mailed that she wrote erotic romance and hoped that didn’t scare me off. I broke out in a sweat on my side of the monitor, then assured her that I was fine with it. My nose didn’t grow (whew!). Next, we each exchanged a chapter or so of writing and the rest, as they say, is history… :-) Now on to the good stuff:

CHARACTERS & STORY CONCEPT

1. We agree on main characters — ages, occupations and names (when it comes to names, I usually provide several choices because I adore naming characters and Alyssa picks the one she likes best; other times, one of us has a specific name in mind and we go with that). [Side Note -- my two favorite books for use in naming characters are The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Names by Nathaniel Altman and-- interestingly! -- Gary Gygax's (YES! from Dungeons & Dragons!) Extraordinary Book of Names by Malcolm Bowers. This last one may be my #1 favorite reference book of all.]

2. We choose a pictorial representation of each main character. This might be an actor or actress, or a painting or drawing, or simply a picture from a magazine or some random photo one of us sees online. I’ve found I do best working from a picture of a person completely unknown to me, which helps eliminate any type of media-created baggage. It’s why none of my sexy men look like Brad Pitt. Can we say BAGGAGE? :-(

3. A general idea of the story is touched upon. Location, setting, main conflict. If there’s a theme, we discuss it here. Then we set a meeting time to do the actual story plotting. And I’ll discuss that in my next post!

Any questions so far? Stick ‘em in comments!

Currently Reading: Let Sleeping Rogues Lie by Sabrina Jeffries, Homeopathy An A to Z Home Handbook by Alan V. Schmukler, and The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming

Tags: , , ,

No Comments
14
Jul

Larissa’s New Office – The Floor

   Posted by: Larissa Lyons    in Claim Your Space

It’s likely silly to become so excited over a new floor, but Mr. Lyons ripped up dingy, musty carpet in 2007 and over the next few weeks, the floors in every room but mine were replaced. Somehow, my “space” became a bit of a dumping ground–grrrr). So after having a rough plywood floor for almost 2 years, I’m ecstatically happy to share the gorgeous bamboo we decided to put in my office.

It’s the only room to receive such fancy treatment but when we decided to redo the floors, I wanted the one in this room to be special (which is why it wasn’t completed with the rest of the house). I think my patience was well rewarded, don’t you?

my new office floor

I created a new category for this post today — Claim Your Space. With so many things going on beyond our control in this vast world we inhabit, and so much information bombarding us from infinite directions, I think it’s important to surround yourself with things (and people — cats count!) that make you happy. Whether your “space” is comprised of a 30-room mansion, an efficiency apartment or a cupboard under the stairs (go Harry Potter!) I think if you can create an area that brings you peace and allows your body to breathe then you’re on the right track.

Now if I were to share pictures of the typical Lyons’ household look, everyone would wonder how in the world I find my office door, much less my computer. I tend to have real issues with paper and clutter. Trust me, I’m talking Oprah-show type issues when it comes to clutter. Piles. And boxes. And more piles. Did I mention that “Filing Cabinet” is my middle name? And unfortunately–I’m not smiling. (Though I did crack one during my proofread.) :-)

What I am doing is taking the opportunity to create a space for my writing from — literally — the ground up. My goal is to only incorporate things that I absolutely love and that bring me pleasure or that are necessary and beneficial to creating the stories currently inhabiting my head and heart.

As I make progress decorating this room, and strive to rid it of all unnecessary objects and clutter, I’ll bring you along on a pictorial tour.

For now, simply imagine the furry feline currently gracing my bamboo floor, the one with tufts of fur sticking out between each toe (or would that be claw?) doing cartoon-kitty runs and third-base slides all over the floor.

Tags: ,

No Comments
8
Jul

Bond Night – Introduction

   Posted by: Larissa Lyons    in Bond Night

Once a month, a good friend and I get together to watch a 007 flick and enjoy some buttery, sea-salted, oil-popped popcorn (none of those air-popped Styrofoam-textured kernels for us!). We also consume brownies or cheesecake or organic chocolate, depending upon whether I’m in a baking mood and whether she’s been to town and our “local” health food store (a 90 mile round trip or thereabouts) which fortunately has a divine selection of organic chocolate bars.

Last night was popcorn & organic chocolate — this lavender, milk chocolate concoction unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. Almost like eating melt-in-your-mouth perfume. Amazing.

The combo of chocolate and popcorn always makes for a fabulous supper. Granted, she eats dinner before she comes over, but I save my appetite for the good stuff, always making sure to take my wheatgrass and enzymes before savoring our popcorn-and-chocolate bonanza (my vitamin and dietary habits crack her up).

We’ve been watching the James Bond movies in order. We started with Dr. No last year and have worked our way up to The Spy Who Loved Me (which I’ll post a review of when I get around to it) :) .

We’ve only skipped one month to catch James Coburn in Our Man Flint.

So hip are we.

So do you and any of your girl friends (or guy friends) have any neat “date” nights or traditions? Do share!

Tags: , ,

No Comments
4
Jul

Storyland – July writing update

   Posted by: Larissa Lyons    in Storyland

My first post of every month, I’ll give a quick status update on any current writing projects.

I spent most of the spring working on a Regency story that’s a mite different from anything I’ve done before. This one was both started and finished without any interruptions (go me!) and I hope to have positive news to announce soon. :)

Currently I’m working on the second Bottoms Up story. Alyssa sent me her 46,000 word “draft” (I put the word draft in quotation marks because her drafts are a lot more polished than mine!). I usually double — or more — whatever she sends me on our joint work and that’s what I’m focusing on now. No distractions allowed! If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I sometimes have issues getting projects FINISHED. Made a promise to both myself and Alyssa, any time I’m working on one of our joint stories, nothing else will cross my mind (if it does, I have to spank it into submission, ha!).

After I finish Jonah’s story, I’ll be completing my third Roaring Rogue. Phineas, darling, I haven’t forgotten you! I have the entire story drafted out and dictated (I hand write everything first). It came to over 62,000 words which I think scared the peewadiddly out of me because that’s my longest draft to date. I usually add 40-50% more to my own stuff during the polishing phase which means the sucker could easily be 90,000+ words and I want every single one to shine, sparkle and set readers on fire! So I’m feeling the pressure. GULP.

To the right, I updated the word count meter do-hicky thing for July. My goal is to refresh that at the beginning of each month as well. [And fooey-looey--I've just learned that my blog isn't displaying properly in Internet Explorer browsers. It looks fabulous in Mozilla Firefox, so use that if anything on the side is looking wonky, and please know that I'm working to get it fixed!]

So there you have it–what Larissa’s been up to & how I’ve been staying out of trouble!

Tags: , , ,

No Comments
Back to top